Australia

I'm back from the Aussie Millions in Melbourne, Australia. I got down there last Saturday not sure if I was playing on Sunday or Monday in the $10k(Australian) which is about $8300 USD. Thankfully, I drew the Monday starting day so I had Sunday to adjust to the time change and relax. In the afternoon Sunday I was playing some turbo SNG's and happened to chat with online tournament master Tmay420 and asked him what table he was at the following day in Australia. As luck would have it, he was at my starting table, along with another player in the same SNG, Jeff Madsen (who was seated to my direct left). Online player Ocrowe was also at the table. The rest of the players were pretty straightforward and tight.

The second hand of the tournament, I opened to 300 with AsKs (we started with 20,000 in chips) and was re-raised by a local to 900. I called, and the flop came down AK8. I checked, the local bet 2,000 and I called. The turn was a ten and I checked again and the player bet 5,000 and I called. Only two hands into the tournament its so hard to get a read here. I have a very strong hand, and I have no idea how this guy plays. I still think he could easily have the same hand as me here or even AQ. The river was a jack, and now just a queen made a straight. I checked, the player bet all in, and I folded. He later said that he had a set of aces, but he never showed. So after two hands I'm down to 12,000 but it didn't really bother me, with 90 minute levels, I felt like I had a great chance to come back.

I began to play a lot of hands because most of our table was quite tight. Madsen liked to call me and had position but I held my own against him. One big hand we played was when I raised with 99 and the flop came T87. I bet the flop and Madsen called after a little bit of thought. The turn was another 8 and I thought this was a pretty good card to bet since it would put a lot of pressure on him if he had a ten or a draw. He quickly called, and his call lead me to believe that he had a hand like tens full. When the 6 rolled off on the river, and I had roughly the size of the pot left in my stack, I really had no idea what I should do. I felt like I still might be beat so I ended up checking, which ended up being a huge mistake. Jeff checked behind with QQ and I missed the opportunity to bet about 4 or 5k there on the end and have him look me up. Our table broke and I had about my starting stack.

At my new table I recognized no one, and that was just fine with me. We were still at the 100/2o0/25 level and I opened a lot of pots at my new table with not much resistance. On one hand, the SB limped, and I made it 700 in the BB with JTo. He quickly called, and the flop was J63 two hearts. He bet out 2000 (?) into the pot and I decided to call. The turn was another heart and he bet out 3000 and I decided to call. The river was a 7 and he checked, and he showed 79 and my hand was good. That got me to about 28k -

During the next level an active cutoff made it 900 and the SB and I both called (I had Tc7c). The flop was all clubs and everyone checked. The turn was a blank and the SB bet 500, I made it 3000, the cutoff folded, and the SB made it 10300 total with about 9500 behind. I thought for a bit before moving him in for the rest of his stack, he shrugged and called with 8c9c (drawing dead) and suddenly I had 50k. The player that replaced him was an interesting story. He had quite a few chips, but wasn't playing many pots at all and he seemed pretty inexperienced. Finally, he opened for 1500 at the 200/400/50 level and I called utg+1 with 88. The flop was a wonderful K83 rainbow and he bet out 3000. I decided that there was no way this guy was going to fold KQ or better so I raised to 8000. He thought a while and folded.

He then went on one of the biggest rushes I have ever seen. I'm going to try and remember and describe the hands because they are hilarious. Really tight passive SB open limps for 600. Maniac makes it 5500 in the BB, SB then goes all in for 18k with AQ. BB calls with 87 and wins. Tight player opens for 2000 in the cutoff, maniac makes it 8700 total, CO jams, mainac calls. JhTx for maniac TT for CO, flop is all hearts but maniac somehow misses. Active player opens for 1600 at 300/600, maniac makes it 3200, BB jams for 180000 total, maniac calls with KJs and beats AK. Maniac open limps, I limp behind, SB folds, BB checks. Flop is 543, BB bets out (BB is same guy that had the tens last hand), maniac instantly raises, I fold, BB goes all in for some huge amount, maniac insta calls with AA and beats the BB's 65o. Last level of the day 400/800. Maniac opens for 5800 UTG, new player cold calls with about 50k behind. Flop is ten high, maniac instantly goes all in, cold caller folds, maniac shows a set of tens (and wonders aloud whether he could have 'milked' him for more money). Player opens for 2500, new tight player makes it 10000 leaving himself 10000 or so, maniac is in the BB and declares all in. First player folds, tight player has AA, I folded T5, maniac has TT and wins vs AA. Maniac open limps on the button, I complete in the SB, BB makes it 5000 more, maniac instantly goes all in, both fold, maniac shows AA. Somehow the maniac gets it in with 66 vs KK, and after the 589 flop, we know its all over, maniac gets there on the river. At one point, he opened for 3800 UTG and I had KK UTG+1, I decided to go all in because he had never folded to a re-raise... so it was like 42,000 to him and he thought forever before folding QJs... man, what a bad beat that fold was for me. So then Gus Hansen comes to the table, whom I've never played with. But I know he likes to gamble, and has an award winning head. He played a fairly hilarious ten minute hand with the maniac, where Gus opened for 2200, got cold called, then the maniac made it 5300, Gus thought forever before making it 10k more, then the maniac thought forever before making it 20k more. Gus then thought forever X 2 before folding.

So I finished day 1 with 50k and awoke to find the ugly table draw that had Patrick Antonius (who's name in Finnish means I'm Better Than You at Everything) who only had 315k after day 1. I solicited some advice from some of my poker pro friends, one of which said don't play pots with him. So when he opened under the gun and got cold called in one spot obviously I had to call with KTs on the button. The flop came KT5 two hearts and it was checked to me and I bet 7k. Then, Patrick makes it 23k. The other guy folds so obviously I go all in and Patrick calls with Ah5h. Normally, I would feel good about my chances here, but as my buddy Carl looks on and starts laughing at the inevitable bad beat that is about to occur, the 6h rolls off on the river and I'm out. I felt a lot better though, after viewing this video where Patrick bemoans his bad luck from the day before. We all feel really sorry for you losing all those pots with the best hand, Patrick.

So after I busted out, Carl and I started having a few beers, then Brandon busted out to some asshat. So the three of us met up with some Australian dude from Newcastle that is a member of 2+2. We went out to some place called St. Kilda, which in Australian means "Beach of the flies".

A couple of days later, Carl, Brandon and I headed to the Australian Open tennis matches, where I won a $400 AUS betting on this guy to win a 5th set against the dimmunitive Belgian-who-we-thought-was-German-at-the-time. It was very exciting and I won. Obviously, I felt sorry so when we headed over to the next match I began accepting bets from Carl and Brandon over the Haas vs Serbian-Bum-Who-I-Thought-Was-Good. We had a lot of action on this match, and on the first point of the match the Serb went to return a Haas' serve and let go of his racquet. Normally, I would say this isn't a good sign, but I stuck with my horse. Little did I know this guy was the Phil Hellmuth of tennis, he tilted like some guy who took 10 consecutive 2 outers on the river and folded like a cheap suit.

After that is a bit of a blur, we went back to the hotel, had a bunch of cocktails and Carl and I tried to convince Gavin and Jeff to play 2/3 NL with us. They declined, citing the excuse that they were too cool for us. Carl quickly began to stretch the rules of the Crown Casino. During one of his usual episodes where the dealer dealt him out three times an orbit, he didn't think that being cutoff really meant that he couldn't drink anymore, so when he tried to get someone else to give him a drink, 6 big guys in dark suits escorted him out of the casino. All in all, I was happy to have the pest on my left out of the poker game, but my flight was taking off in a few hours so I had to get some rest.

Next up, Borgata in Atlantic City for the 5k and 10k buy-ins.

Bellagio & Stars $150

I didn't make it out of Day 1 of the Bellagio $15k. I drew a difficult starting table, sandwiched between KramerTM and ImSoLucky0 (Jordan Morgan) both of whom I know from playing on the internet. Also at the table were internet player Roothlus and pros Ray Faltinsky and John Duthie. We started with 30k in chips - I was down to about 25k when this hand came up: Jordan raised UTG to 300 and I just called with KK in the BB. The flop came 9 high and I checked, he bet 500, I made it 1500 and he quickly called. The turn was a blank and I bet 2000 and he called. The river was another low card, and I really felt like he had JJ or QQ and I bet 5000 and he thought for a minute and called, saying he had QQ.

In level 2, I remember a weird hand against John Duthie. He limped UTG which he did a lot, and I had been playing pretty tight so I made it 900 with 98o in MP. Duthie made it 1500 more and I decided to call. The flop came T92, and he quickly checked and I checked behind. The turn was a 7 and he bet 1600 and I called. The river was a blank and it went check check and I won vs his AKs. I was up to about 40k at this point but that would be the most chips I'd have.

One bizarre hand that I recall was when I limped behind a couple of limpers with JsTs. The flop was J45 one spade and one of the limpers bet into the field and I called. The turn was the As and he quickly checked and I decided to check behind. The river was a 4 and he bet out almost the size of the pot for 5k. I really didn't know what to make of this bet, it felt like he was betting a ten and we were chopping with the board paired and the ace on board. I decided to call and he had 2s3s for the turned wheel. Its interesting if another spade would come on the river... because if he bet out on the spade, I wouldn't have the nuts, but in reality what spade draw could he have? Would he really bet into the whole field of limpers with KsQs on that flop? I don't think so, no one would even make that play as a bluff. My point is, I might have just called if the spade hit on the river, but I would definitely want to raise there because there is no bigger spade draw he could logically have...

I just burned through my stack in the last few levels of the day. I'd raise preflop and get re-raised and fold, or I'd get called and played back at on the flop. And I wasn't picking up any big hands preflop. Finally, a fairly bad player opened for 3000 in the last level of the day (300/600 blinds) from middle position. I had AQo in the BB with about 13000 chips. This player hadn't opened a ton of pots, but I think the fairly large raise here meant a good but not premium hand, like 99 or TT. I decided to stick my chips in there and he called fairly quickly with AdJd and he hit a flush on the turn to eliminate me from the tournament.

I got home on Sunday morning after 2.5 weeks in Vegas. On Monday night, I fired up some tournaments online. When the night was over I took down the $150+12 tournament on Stars for almost $33,000. I (finally) ran really well at the final table, coming back from the shortest stack with 5 or 6 left to be a big chip leader when it got heads up. My opponent played pretty well heads up and we went back and forth quite a few times. I got lucky a few times and eventually took it down. So satisfying to have a big win on Stars, I have run so bad on that site for so long, it finally seems to be evening out.

Stars Sunday Tourney

Well I finally put together a decent run in a Sunday tournament. I got 7th in the Stars $200+15 tournament out of 6680 people for $22,710. The big hand was the 15million chip pot I played at the final table with AK all in preflop vs AQ against the eventual winner. I lost the hand and went out the very next hand.

You have to run really good to make it that far, so I won't even start to complain about my luck. I'm at a high point for the year as far as earnings go, and that is always nice. Hopefully this gives me some momentum heading into Thursday's $15,000 buy in at the Bellagio.

More of the Same

I skipped yesterday's $2500NL at the Bellagio to play the Sunday tournaments and sweat fantasy football and the BCS. Of course, the BCS wasn't a great sweat as Florida got the nod to play OSU in the national championship game over Michigan. I have mixed feelings on this, I really wanted Michigan to get another shot, and I don't really understand how Florida moved up so much with a win over Arkansas. If Florida's schedule was so much tougher before they played Arkansas why weren't they ahead of Michigan already? Urban Meyer really started jockying for the Gators to be #2, and Lloyd Carr said pretty much nothing... and I think the national media fell in love with the Gators partly because of that and it all snowballed. Now Michigan is stuck playing USC, a very talented and probably motivated team, practically playing on their home turf. It might be Carr's most difficult coaching job ever to motivate Michigan to win the Rose Bowl.

As for the Sunday tournaments, I had some chips on Stars, ended up blinding off and finishing inside of 300th or so for $1200. I also cashed on Full Tilt, but got 306th out of 306 paid spots after I got crippled with KK vs AJ right near the money.

Today was the $3000NL at the Bellagio. My starting table had Shannon Shorr to my right, Cliff Joesphy, Jimmy Tran, John Phan to my left. Not what I would call a great starting table. I saw the funniest, worst laydown ever in the first orbit. The two seat is a player I've played against a bunch of times but don't know his name, he's really aggressive... and had been bullied a bit early, I know him to be a bit of a steamer. So its a limped pot, and he bets the KQ8 two club flop and the button raises to 800, and seat 2 quickly calls. The turn is a queen, seat 2 check raises all in, and the button, getting like 2.5:1 folds 88 faceup...Seat 2 shows K5, lol. So, I don't get dealt anything early, as usual... blind off... open a pot to 150 with A7, get re-raised, call, check fold. Shannon opens for 300, I call with Ah6h, flop is K32 one heart, chk/chk. The turn is the 4h, he checks, I bet 300, he makes it 700, I call, I miss the river (surprising), he bets I fold. I open for 300 in MP with KJ, the SB goes all in for 700 total, he has TT, I lose the coinflip obviously. I open for 300 in LP with AK, SB makes it 600, I get a bad feeling that he is huge. He is giving off all of the signals, and he is a beginner type player. I decide to just call instead of jamming my last 3300 in the pot, flop comes T87, he bets, I fold.

I finally catch a break when I limp in a multiway pot with QT, John Phan leads from the SB on the T43 two club flop , I raise to 1000, he jams and says "you got me". Now I'm totally confident that he has the best hand, but I just dont have a fold in me, I call, and he has T9 and I double up to 6000. When we came back for level 3, I was really confident that I would get something going, but it didn't happen. I opened for 600 with AQ and got re-raised. Again, I thought the guy had a huge hand, and he re-raised small, so I called, missed the flop, and folded to his bet. I open for JT one off the button, the Sb makes it 2100, leaving himself about 2000, I have to fold. I open for 88 UTG, the SB asks how many chips I have, and decides to just call. The flop is J45, he checks, I bet 900, he makes it 1900, I think for a minute or two and fold. I really am not sure about this spot, I think he can have 66 or 77 here, or even something like A5. He had been pretty active... but I don't have enough chips to get him to lay down a better hand, and am dead if I'm called. Really a tough spot with what looks like a great flop for my hand. From there I blind off, with no good spots to put in my chips. I'm down to about 1700 when in the SB, I find A4 after a button raise by Roland DeWolfe. This isn't a great spot, but I jam, he has 67, and I lose.

So I decided to play some online tournaments and those have gone just the same. I'm not sure I've ever run this bad for so long playing tournaments. Its getting really hard to stay positive - and I hope I catch a break or two sometime soon.

Not a good start

Friday was the $1500 NL at the Bellagio. I arrived around 11:55, having never had a problem registering at a Bellagio tournament before. Of course I had never played a $1500, so it was very busy and I ended up 38th alternate. I wasn't seated until 9:00 left in the first level. The first pot I played was when a LP player open limped, the button made it 150, and I defended the BB with T9. The limper called and the flop was T94, it was checked around. The turn was a 7, I lead for 325, both players fold.
A few hands later I am on the button with 54 and limp behind a bunch of limpers. The flop is KQ7 rainbow and its checked around. The turn was a 6, and the BB lead out, one other player called, and I called. The turn was an 8 it was checked to me, I bet and they both folded. So I was up to almost 3700 or so at that point from my 3000 starting stack.
During level 2 (50-100 blinds), David Matthews open limped UTG. The player to my right also limped, I made it 550 with AsKs, folds to Matthews who jams for 1050 total. The other limper folds and I of course call and he has AhQx. The flop is all hearts with a queen, and obviously I lose the hand. I've played with Matthews twice and I have yet to be impressed with how he has played one single pot. You know, its only 1050 chips, but instead of 4700 I have 2700, and I spend the rest of the 50/100 level just blinding away, until I have 2025 going into the 100/200 level. Now I'm in push or fold mode, but when you are at exactly 10 big blinds with no antes, its very hard to justify being real push happy. Ideally you'd like to push in overtop of a raise with a monster hand and be isolated against one player that might have a pretty big range of hands. So I basically folded a lot of hands, down to about 1600 or so, I did open jam with QJ and won the blinds... Then I blinded down a bit more, again to 1600. A player limped under the gun for 200 and I had K9 and decided to go with it. He figures to have a lot of small pairs here as well as JT/QJ type hands, and I think he might fold a lot of the time. Of course, he insta calls with KQ and IGHN.

Today's $2000NL was even worse. I never found a rhythym at all. We were playing 5 handed at first, and the 5 seat opens for 250 and I fold QTs behind. Later, on the button, he opens for 325, and I fold A8s in the BB. I'm not sure about this. It seems obvious that these could be dominated hands , and not worth putting like 8% of my stack in preflop with. But when things are going bad maybe I have to re-evaluate ??? So, finally it folds to me and I have KQ and open for 150, and the BB makes it 550 and I fold. The next hand, I get AQ and make it 150, an Asian player behind makes it 775 and I fold. Am I running into aces every hand or playing way too tight? So maybe 5 hands later, the very active 5 seat makes it 225 after a limper. In the SB, I make it 725 with AK. He thinks for a bit and makes it 1500 more. I think the previous hands of folding to the re-raises and how active this player was already really factored in, I ended up jamming which is probably a marginal play, and of course he has two aces and I bust.

I'm really struggling in these preliminary events. I have never cashed in one, and I just feel lost. When the structures are bad (Bellagio smaller events and the World Series events), it feels like I am playing too tight, but whenever I loosen up I get punished. Maybe its just running bad, but I'm sure my play can improve also. Anyway, tomorrow is $2500NL hopefully that goes better.

Vegas

I'm off to Vegas tomorrow to play in a bunch of Bellagio tournaments. They start Friday with a $1500 buy in, and the prelims continue through December 10th... and then the $15k buy in starts on the 14th. I'm feeling good about my chances to make a final table at the Bellagio - I'm looking forward to it.

Things have been going a little better but nothing spectacular. I took quite a few days off last week but on Sunday, Monday and tonight I played in a bunch of tournaments. I've had a few close calls, getting deep in a few tournaments but I just can't seem to break through. On Monday I finished 5th in the Stars $150, which with the reorganization of the poker sites has become a huge tournament. I made $7600 for that score, but I really ran poorly at the final table. One of the first hands in I had AK vs AJ and lost, if I had won I would have 600k to second place's 300k with 8 players left. Then a super aggressive small blind moved in on me for about 8.5 big blinds, and I had A2 and I thought for sure I had the best hand, despite hating calling off a bunch of chips in that spot. The SB flipped up the huge T4 suited and of course hit a ten on the river. I was down below 100k after that but two people busted in the next few hands so I got to move up before I busted.

I have also been playing a few satellites for the Stars Bahamas trip in early January. This is a fun goal for me to have, I will probably go on the trip anyway but I sure would like to win a seat. Its a tight schedule but the day after the Bahamas trip I will be off to Australia for the tournament down there. As soon as I return from that the tournament circuit is pretty busy in the states - I'm looking forward to it.

Take care readers. I'll try to put some tournament reports together from the Bellagio.

USPC Final Table

(No, I didn't make the final table) but two of my poker friends made it. Shane Schleger and Jordan Morgan both made the final table of the $10k buy in at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Jordan comes in as the chip leader (where he's been for most of the tournament) and Shane definitely has enough chips to do some serious damage.

It will be quite a day sweating Michigan/Mich St football, the Tigers and the final table in Atlantic City. Good luck to both of you and I can't wait to see it on ESPN.